An
apeirotope or
infinite polytope is a
polytope which has infinitely many
facets. An -apeirotope is an infinite -polytope: a 2-apeirotope or apeirogon is an infinite polygon, a 3-apeirotope or apeirohedron is an infinite polyhedron, etc. There are two main geometric classes of apeirotope: • Regular
honeycombs in dimensions, which completely fill an -dimensional space. • Regular
skew apeirotopes, comprising an -dimensional manifold in a higher space.
2-apeirotopes (apeirogons) The straight
apeirogon is a regular tessellation of the line, subdividing it into infinitely many equal segments. It has infinitely many vertices and edges. Its
Schläfli symbol is {∞}, and Coxeter diagram . ...... It exists as the limit of the -gon as tends to infinity, as follows: Apeirogons in the
hyperbolic plane, most notably the
regular apeirogon, {∞}, can have a curvature just like finite polygons of the Euclidean plane, with the vertices circumscribed by
horocycles or
hypercycles rather than
circles. Regular apeirogons that are scaled to converge at infinity have the symbol {∞} and exist on horocycles, while more generally they can exist on hypercycles. Above are two regular hyperbolic apeirogons in the
Poincaré disk model, the right one shows perpendicular reflection lines of divergent
fundamental domains, separated by length λ.
Skew apeirogons A skew apeirogon in two dimensions forms a zig-zag line in the plane. If the zig-zag is even and symmetrical, then the apeirogon is regular. Skew apeirogons can be constructed in any number of dimensions. In three dimensions, a regular
skew apeirogon traces out a helical spiral and may be either left- or right-handed.
3-apeirotopes (apeirohedra) Euclidean tilings There are six regular tessellations of the plane: the three listed below, and their corresponding Petrials. There are two improper regular tilings: {∞,2}, an apeirogonal
dihedron, made from two
apeirogons, each filling half the plane; and secondly, its dual, {2,∞}, an apeirogonal
hosohedron, seen as an infinite set of parallel lines.
Euclidean star-tilings There are no regular plane tilings of
star polygons. There are many enumerations that fit in the plane (1/
p + 1/
q = 1/2), like {8/3,8}, {10/3,5}, {5/2,10}, {12/5,12}, etc., but none repeat periodically.
Hyperbolic tilings Tessellations of
hyperbolic 2-space are
hyperbolic tilings. There are infinitely many regular tilings in H2. As stated above, every positive integer pair {
p,
q} such that 1/
p + 1/
q of the {
m, 3} tilings. The patterns {
m/2,
m} and {
m,
m/2} continue for odd
m < 7 as
polyhedra: when
m = 5, we obtain the
small stellated dodecahedron and
great dodecahedron, and when
m = 3, the case degenerates to a
tetrahedron. The other two Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra (the
great stellated dodecahedron and
great icosahedron) do not have regular hyperbolic tiling analogues. If
m is even, depending on how we choose to define {
m/2}, we can either obtain degenerate double covers of other tilings or
compound tilings.
Skew apeirohedra in Euclidean 3-space There are three
regular skew apeirohedra in Euclidean 3-space, with planar faces. They share the same
vertex arrangement and
edge arrangement of 3
convex uniform honeycombs. • 6 squares around each vertex: {4,6|4} • 4 hexagons around each vertex: {6,4|4} • 6 hexagons around each vertex: {6,6|3} File:Mucube external.png|The mucube File:Muoctahedron external.png|The muoctahedron File:Mutetrahedron external.png|The mutetrahedron Allowing for skew faces, there are 30 regular apeirohedra in Euclidean 3-space. These include the 12 blended apeirohedra created by blends with the Euclidean planar apeirohedra, and 18 pure apeirohedra, which cannot be expressed as a non-trivial blend including the planar apeirohedra and the three 3-dimensional apeirohedra above. The 3-dimensional pure apeirohedra are: • , the mucube • {{math|{∞,6}}}, the Petrial of the mucube • , the mutetrahedron • {{math|{∞,6}}}, the Petrial of the mutetrahedron • , the muoctahedron • {{math|{∞,4}}}, the Petrial of the muoctahedron • {{math|{6,6}}}, the halving of the mucube • {{math|{4,6}}}, the Petrial of {{math|{6,6}}} • {{math|{∞,4}}}, the skewing of the muoctahedron • {{math|{6,4}}}, the skewing of {{math|{∞,4}}} • {{math|{∞,3}}} • {{math|{∞,3}}}
Skew apeirohedra in hyperbolic 3-space There are 31
regular skew apeirohedra with convex faces in hyperbolic 3-space with compact or paracompact symmetry: • 14 are compact: {8,10|3}, {10,8|3}, {10,4|3}, {4,10|3}, {6,4|5}, {4,6|5}, {10,6|3}, {6,10|3}, {8,8|3}, {6,6|4}, {10,10|3},{6,6|5}, {8,6|3}, and {6,8|3}. • 17 are paracompact: {12,10|3}, {10,12|3}, {12,4|3}, {4,12|3}, {6,4|6}, {4,6|6}, {8,4|4}, {4,8|4}, {12,6|3}, {6,12|3}, {12,12|3}, {6,6|6}, {8,6|4}, {6,8|4}, {12,8|3}, {8,12|3}, and {8,8|4}.
4-apeirotopes Tessellations of Euclidean 3-space There is only one non-degenerate regular tessellation of 3-space (
honeycombs), {4, 3, 4}:
Improper tessellations of Euclidean 3-space There are six improper regular tessellations, pairs based on the three regular Euclidean tilings. Their cells and vertex figures are all regular
hosohedra {2,n},
dihedra, {n,2}, and Euclidean tilings. These improper regular tilings are constructionally related to prismatic uniform honeycombs by truncation operations. They are higher-dimensional analogues of the
order-2 apeirogonal tiling and
apeirogonal hosohedron.
Tessellations of hyperbolic 3-space There are 15 flat regular honeycombs of hyperbolic 3-space: • 4 are compact: {3,5,3}, {4,3,5}, {5,3,4}, and {5,3,5} • while 11 are paracompact: {3,3,6}, {6,3,3}, {3,4,4}, {4,4,3}, {3,6,3}, {4,3,6}, {6,3,4}, {4,4,4}, {5,3,6}, {6,3,5}, and {6,3,6}. Tessellations of
hyperbolic 3-space can be called
hyperbolic honeycombs. There are 15 hyperbolic honeycombs in H3, 4 compact and 11 paracompact. There are also 11 paracompact H3 honeycombs (those with infinite (Euclidean) cells and/or vertex figures): {3,3,6}, {6,3,3}, {3,4,4}, {4,4,3}, {3,6,3}, {4,3,6}, {6,3,4}, {4,4,4}, {5,3,6}, {6,3,5}, and {6,3,6}. Noncompact solutions exist as
Lorentzian Coxeter groups, and can be visualized with open domains in hyperbolic space (the fundamental tetrahedron having ultra-ideal vertices). All honeycombs with hyperbolic cells or vertex figures and do not have 2 in their Schläfli symbol are noncompact. There are no regular compact or paracompact hyperbolic star-honeycombs in H3: all forms with a regular star polyhedron as cell, vertex figure or both end up being spherical. Ideal vertices now appear when the vertex figure is a Euclidean tiling, becoming inscribable in a horosphere rather than a sphere. They are dual to ideal cells (Euclidean tilings rather than finite polyhedra). As the last number in the Schläfli symbol rises further, the vertex figure becomes hyperbolic, and vertices become ultra-ideal (so the edges do not meet within hyperbolic space). In honeycombs {p, q, ∞} the edges intersect the Poincaré ball only in one ideal point; the rest of the edge has become ultra-ideal. Continuing further would lead to edges that are completely ultra-ideal, both for the honeycomb and for the fundamental simplex (though still infinitely many {p, q} would meet at such edges). In general, when the last number of the Schläfli symbol becomes ∞, faces of codimension two intersect the Poincaré hyperball only in one ideal point.
5-apeirotopes Tessellations of Euclidean 4-space There are three kinds of infinite regular tessellations (
honeycombs) that can tessellate Euclidean four-dimensional space: There are also the two improper cases {4,3,4,2} and {2,4,3,4}. There are three flat regular honeycombs of Euclidean 4-space: • {4,3,3,4}, {3,3,4,3}, and {3,4,3,3}. There are seven flat regular convex honeycombs of hyperbolic 4-space: • 5 are compact: {3,3,3,5}, {5,3,3,3}, {4,3,3,5}, {5,3,3,4}, {5,3,3,5} • 2 are paracompact: {3,4,3,4}, and {4,3,4,3}. There are four flat regular star honeycombs of hyperbolic 4-space: • {5/2,5,3,3}, {3,3,5,5/2}, {3,5,5/2,5}, and {5,5/2,5,3}.
Tessellations of hyperbolic 4-space There are seven convex regular
honeycombs and four star-honeycombs in H4 space. Five convex ones are compact, and two are paracompact. Five compact regular honeycombs in H4: The two paracompact regular H4 honeycombs are: {3,4,3,4}, {4,3,4,3}. Noncompact solutions exist as
Lorentzian Coxeter groups, and can be visualized with open domains in hyperbolic space (the fundamental 5-cell having some parts inaccessible beyond infinity). All honeycombs which are not shown in the set of tables below and do not have 2 in their Schläfli symbol are noncompact.
Star tessellations of hyperbolic 4-space There are four regular star-honeycombs in H4 space, all compact:
6-apeirotopes There is only one flat regular honeycomb of Euclidean 5-space: (previously
listed above as tessellations) • {4,3,3,3,4} There are five flat regular regular honeycombs of hyperbolic 5-space, all paracompact: (previously
listed above as tessellations) • {3,3,3,4,3}, {3,4,3,3,3}, {3,3,4,3,3}, {3,4,3,3,4}, and {4,3,3,4,3}
Tessellations of Euclidean 5-space The
hypercubic honeycomb is the only family of regular honeycombs that can tessellate each dimension, five or higher, formed by
hypercube facets, four around every
ridge. In E5, there are also the improper cases {4,3,3,4,2}, {2,4,3,3,4}, {3,3,4,3,2}, {2,3,3,4,3}, {3,4,3,3,2}, and {2,3,4,3,3}. In E
n, {4,3n−3,4,2} and {2,4,3n−3,4} are always improper Euclidean tessellations.
Tessellations of hyperbolic 5-space There are 5 regular honeycombs in H5, all paracompact, which include infinite (Euclidean) facets or vertex figures: {3,4,3,3,3}, {3,3,4,3,3}, {3,3,3,4,3}, {3,4,3,3,4}, and {4,3,3,4,3}. There are no compact regular tessellations of hyperbolic space of dimension 5 or higher and no paracompact regular tessellations in hyperbolic space of dimension 6 or higher. Since there are no regular star
n-polytopes for
n ≥ 5, that could be potential cells or vertex figures, there are no more hyperbolic star honeycombs in H
n for
n ≥ 5.
Apeirotopes of rank 7 or more Tessellations of hyperbolic 6-space and higher There are no regular compact or paracompact tessellations of hyperbolic space of dimension 6 or higher. However, any Schläfli symbol of the form {p,q,r,s,...} not covered above (p,q,r,s,...
natural numbers above 2, or infinity) will form a noncompact tessellation of hyperbolic
n-space. ==Abstract polytopes==